Direct selling of meat and meat products in Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony - Comparative trial

Abstract

The direct selling of meat and meat products from the farm to the consumers is a possibility to increase the profit by factoring out the following link of the food supply chain. The conversion of these farms to direct marketing could be accompanied with high investments due to the different legislations about meat, poultry meat and food hygiene. And this has to be considered. To increase the knowledge about the direct marketing of meat and meat products a poll was carried out surveying the food control authorities in the administrative districts of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony. 84.1% of the authorities replied the poll. The analysis of the data showed that in Lower Saxony with 493 direct marketing farms (DMF) of meat and meat products more chose these selling mode than in Saxony-Anhalt (86 DMF). Referring the results to the number of inhabitants and the area size in the administrative districts confirms the previous result. However, in Saxony-Anhalt more farms keeping animals sold meat and meat products by direct marketing. The DMF marketed many beef and pork as well as meat products from swine but low amounts of poultry meat an( meat products. The poll also showed that in Saxony-Anhalt more farms slaughtered the animals and processed the meat themselves. Considering the objections the authorities had during the regular control of the DMF 72.4% of them noticed problems with the labelling of the products, 41.9% with the hygiene during handling of the meat and meat products and 18.6% with the knowledge about the several legislations.